The trial unfolded like a real-life telenovela, with Guzman's former beauty queen wife Emma Coronel in the audience and a parade of her husband's lovers and henchmen taking the witness stand under the gaze of the onetime Sinaloa cartel chief.

Federal court marshals whisked Guzman out of the courtroom immediately after the judge read the guilty verdict. When the jury was discharged, he leaned back in his chair to catch the eye of his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro, who gave him a subtle thumbs-up.

In the trial, which has lasted several months, prosecutors used more than 50 witnesses to detail Guzman's involvement in making billions of dollars distributing drugs in the U.S.

The verdict came on the sixth day of the jury's deliberations.

On Tuesday, Lichtman called the conviction "devastating", but he said he was proud that the defence "left it all on the battlefield".

The notorious former leader of the dreaded Sinaloa Cartel has been the subject of numerous TV shows and films, including Univision's series El Chapo, a recent Netflix documentary with the same title that was ridiculed by Sean Penn, Netflix's Narcos: Mexico and documentary The Day I Met El Chapo with Kate del Castillo. On its fifth day of deliberations, the jury asked to review law enforcement testimony about seizures of Colombian cocaine being shipped to the Sinaloa cartel to fuel a smuggling empire prosecutors say was under Guzman's command. Fourteen of those witnesses - mostly admitted drug traffickers and cartel associates - were cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of reducing their own prison sentences.

During the verdict, Guzman, whose nickname "El Chapo" means "shorty", appeared emotionless, according to reports.

Likewise, the trial involved the twice-daily closing of the Brooklyn Bridge to ensure safe passage for the for the parade of government vehicles transporting El Chapo from the prison to the courthouse.